The present invention pertains to a method of managing a transaction between a terminal and a smart card. It also relates to the intervention of an operator. In the context of the invention, both the terminal and the chip in the card are provided with signal processor.
Terminals for smart cards are known, used notably in the banking field, in the field of identity checking, in payment operations and in mobile telephone applications of the GSM type. Nevertheless, they are applicable to all fields in which a terminal comes into relationship with a smart card and an operator.
The above statement of the known applications for the use of smart cards in transactions is synonymous with the fact that the terminals and cards are dedicated. In the majority of cases, the cards are of the type that are solely provided with memory. The card reader, e.g. the terminal, has an operating system for firstly connecting with a smart card and secondly initiating a program which uses the smart card. For example, in the banking field, for withdrawing money at a terminal, the program recorded in a program memory of the terminal is of such a nature as to cause to be displayed on a screen of this terminal all the images necessary for the operator to understand the steps to be gone through in order to perform the transaction.
These user programs can be very simple. In the case where the terminal is a payment terminal, it merely requests the operator to key in a secret code in order to enable payment. They can also be more complex. This is precisely the case when the terminals are mobile telephone appliances. In the latter case, the user program of the terminal includes a hierarchical succession of menus presenting options which the operator can choose in order to benefit from a particular service amongst many services.
The difficulty presented by the terminals of the state of the art is that updating them becomes a veritable problem. This is because it is becoming more and more frequent for the user program or the operating system of the terminals to be modified.
The procedure for the delivery of a service by a terminal to which a smart card is connected takes place as follows. The terminal launches its operating system and prepares to display certain (known) options which it is able to offer to the operator. The terminal then interrogates the card in order to know whether a card is able to deliver the options in question. Where applicable only the options authorized by the card are displayed on the terminal screen. A problem arises when it is desirable for the card carriers to benefit from new options whilst the operating system and the terminal application program are unaware of the very existence of these options and are therefore not capable of interrogating the chip card on its potentiality in this regard, and hence failing to offer it on the screen.
In addition to the display problem proper, there is an underlying problem of execution of the supplementary option chosen in the menu by the operator. This is because the choice of an option amounts either to making the terminal launch a sub-program or causing a switch to the particular point in the operating software of the terminal. The nonexistence of such a sub-program, when it is a case of a new option or a corresponding switching point, makes, beyond the display of the option, the execution of an additional option impossible.
As an improvement, it is preferable for the service relating to a supplementary option to be accompanied by an execution of certain actions, by the terminal processor and/or the smart card. In this case, with the invention it will be shown that this can be accomplished without having to previously change the operating system or the user program for the terminal and smart card.
The principle of the invention consists essentially in providing the terminal with an interface program and providing the card with a link memory with which a reading and translation program is associated. This interface program is provided for reading the link memory by means of the reading and translation program. The reading of this link memory is selective according to known criteria. This program then takes from the link memory of the card all the records corresponding to the selection. It is then capable, in combination with the programs normally resident in the terminal, to present the options and execute them.
The updating and the changes in the applications do not then need to be carried in the terminal and card since the information relating to the options available is solely present in the link memory of the card.
The object of the invention is therefore a method of managing a transaction between a terminal provided with a processor, a smart card provided with a processor and an operator who selects, with commands for the terminal, actions for the terminal to execute. This method includes the following steps:
there are stored, in a non-volatile memory of the card, a link memory and a reading and translation program for the link memory, each link in the link memory having, in a record in this link memory, a designation of an option to be chosen in a menu linked to a selection criterion for this option,
the card reading and translation program executes a selective reading according to at least one of the criteria of the link memory, and
an interface program of the terminal executes the designations resulting from the implementation of the link memory reading and translation program.